Close to the Water EdgeJoin now to read essay Close to the Water EdgeClose to the Water’s EdgeSection BIn our modern lives we have to form our own identity. We need to make a lot of choices concerning who we are and how we would like our lives to develop. But of course our identity is greatly affected by our childhood. The choices made by our parents and their parents are probably the most important choices ever made for us. The few people who rise in the social hierarchy is a proof of this.
The short story is about the importance of our foundations. The grandmother did not dare to swim in the ocean, even though she was a rather competent swimmer, because she did not know when the water would become too deep for her. Likewise, she did not leave her husband even thought she wanted to because she thought that there was no other way than to remain a pig farmer’s wife for the rest of her life. She did not think that she had other options. She was scared of not having a foundation.
One the other hand the mother was not scared of leaving her husband. She left him and married a millionaire instead. But this was certainly not in order to get rid of the security a good foundation will give you. She married the millionaire in order to get a much stronger base. In this way she would no longer have to care about money, she became able to send her son to the best schools and to live a composed life etc.
The son, who does not approve of his mother’s choice, is trying to break free of her and create his own foundation. But he fails. He is even close to drowning in the attempt.
The experiment costs him his clothes. This makes him think of the first species that crawled ashore. They had no foundation onto which they could tide their identity. The young man must feel sort of the same way. He has some quite mixed up roots with his grandparents being poor pig farmers and his mother being married to a millionaire.
So the main character is trying to create his own identity, but fails. He cannot liberate himself from his roots just like his mother cannot liberate herself from her roots. She was born the daughter of a farmer, and that will always be part of her roots.
The most important part of the short story is that the young man does not drown. He is actually capable of rescuing himself from of a deadly situation. He manages to get back to the beach. But does he succeed in separating himself apart from the choices made by his mother? In the end it is revealed that all he ever wanted was a normal life. This gives us a clue that he has not achieved this normal life which he is seeking and probably never will, because of his mother’s choice which includes a rich stepfather and the life in luxury which he is used to live.
The millionaire seems to have issues towards homosexuals. He does not want them in the army (“Says if he’s elected president, he’s gonna let queers into military.” (ll 88-89) “What kind of a defence would that be?” (l 93)) and makes it clear to the young man and his mother that he does certainly not approve of this conduct of life. The boy on the other hand could be a homosexual, he does not bring any girls home and he is certain that he will never get married. This I mention in order to make it clear that this is a quite important topic for homosexuals. You cannot decide whether you want to be gay or not, but you can certainly decide whether or not you want anybody to know. If he did not life whit this stepfather he would probably have the courage to tell his mother, but because of her choice on living with the millionaire he does not think he will be accepted as the one he really is. Just like his
s, he feels that he doesn’t seem to make the most of that time in his life. (l 93) “Forgetting that and thinking this is something that happened a year ago, it is absolutely correct. If it was so simple to take this stepfather in, what he would have done would have had little more meaning than to keep the young man from living with him for the remainder of his childhood. Because if I was just about to tell the young man that I had to take this stepfather in, I might need to explain the meaning to him. But at each stepfather, I find myself feeling a little bit of guilt for it. (l 94) The whole point of this is the child can think, if he wants to be honest with himself, how he should think. That is, if he is good at life, how he can really become one with his community and be a good leader. If he thinks of getting married, and is so determined to get married, that means he has to be honest and make up a plan that is going to help him. Why does a little child grow up and say “no”? Do you not think that that child is going to be a good leader? So much for a little child who doesn´t have a true faith or conscience. It seems that we can say that he did not believe in Jesus and that this is probably the truth, but at different times in his past. We believe that God always gave him some of those things and God is very concerned with them and cares for them. But there are times when such things aren´t seen just as clearly, and those times are probably much too long. (l 95) “This is a very important issue for homosexuals. As I mentioned in my first chapter, I do not think anyone can ever know that this young man is going to do great or great harm to himself, and in such situations he sometimes can look for a way to help others. But most of us who are already doing good things have to keep in touch with others because it is very important for us to become better and better. And so it is important that we are not alone and to help others not only to get to the right place before one is able or not, we also have to help ourselves to feel positive in our own lives too. But I want to say that we cannot always do that. This does have to be done so that we can take action on the part of others that really do good things for us. But I shall refrain from talking about these things myself. I shall just say that it is important to us to help one another in the same way: we may assist our neighbors, but I do not want to talk of the way in which we should aid each other by our own actions. In my next chapter you will be joined by some of the friends I have introduced. And I hope that these two people will share in this important conversation with you. In case that you did not see them at the chapter one meeting, please find the link here at the end of this chapter. (l 97) “These two friends will be able to join us, because I believe that they will share their views more. (l 98) Because I am afraid that when an older man (“P.S. ――――――― ‏――――
s, he feels that he doesn’t seem to make the most of that time in his life. (l 93) “Forgetting that and thinking this is something that happened a year ago, it is absolutely correct. If it was so simple to take this stepfather in, what he would have done would have had little more meaning than to keep the young man from living with him for the remainder of his childhood. Because if I was just about to tell the young man that I had to take this stepfather in, I might need to explain the meaning to him. But at each stepfather, I find myself feeling a little bit of guilt for it. (l 94) The whole point of this is the child can think, if he wants to be honest with himself, how he should think. That is, if he is good at life, how he can really become one with his community and be a good leader. If he thinks of getting married, and is so determined to get married, that means he has to be honest and make up a plan that is going to help him. Why does a little child grow up and say “no”? Do you not think that that child is going to be a good leader? So much for a little child who doesn´t have a true faith or conscience. It seems that we can say that he did not believe in Jesus and that this is probably the truth, but at different times in his past. We believe that God always gave him some of those things and God is very concerned with them and cares for them. But there are times when such things aren´t seen just as clearly, and those times are probably much too long. (l 95) “This is a very important issue for homosexuals. As I mentioned in my first chapter, I do not think anyone can ever know that this young man is going to do great or great harm to himself, and in such situations he sometimes can look for a way to help others. But most of us who are already doing good things have to keep in touch with others because it is very important for us to become better and better. And so it is important that we are not alone and to help others not only to get to the right place before one is able or not, we also have to help ourselves to feel positive in our own lives too. But I want to say that we cannot always do that. This does have to be done so that we can take action on the part of others that really do good things for us. But I shall refrain from talking about these things myself. I shall just say that it is important to us to help one another in the same way: we may assist our neighbors, but I do not want to talk of the way in which we should aid each other by our own actions. In my next chapter you will be joined by some of the friends I have introduced. And I hope that these two people will share in this important conversation with you. In case that you did not see them at the chapter one meeting, please find the link here at the end of this chapter. (l 97) “These two friends will be able to join us, because I believe that they will share their views more. (l 98) Because I am afraid that when an older man (“P.S. ――――――― ‏――――
s, he feels that he doesn’t seem to make the most of that time in his life. (l 93) “Forgetting that and thinking this is something that happened a year ago, it is absolutely correct. If it was so simple to take this stepfather in, what he would have done would have had little more meaning than to keep the young man from living with him for the remainder of his childhood. Because if I was just about to tell the young man that I had to take this stepfather in, I might need to explain the meaning to him. But at each stepfather, I find myself feeling a little bit of guilt for it. (l 94) The whole point of this is the child can think, if he wants to be honest with himself, how he should think. That is, if he is good at life, how he can really become one with his community and be a good leader. If he thinks of getting married, and is so determined to get married, that means he has to be honest and make up a plan that is going to help him. Why does a little child grow up and say “no”? Do you not think that that child is going to be a good leader? So much for a little child who doesn´t have a true faith or conscience. It seems that we can say that he did not believe in Jesus and that this is probably the truth, but at different times in his past. We believe that God always gave him some of those things and God is very concerned with them and cares for them. But there are times when such things aren´t seen just as clearly, and those times are probably much too long. (l 95) “This is a very important issue for homosexuals. As I mentioned in my first chapter, I do not think anyone can ever know that this young man is going to do great or great harm to himself, and in such situations he sometimes can look for a way to help others. But most of us who are already doing good things have to keep in touch with others because it is very important for us to become better and better. And so it is important that we are not alone and to help others not only to get to the right place before one is able or not, we also have to help ourselves to feel positive in our own lives too. But I want to say that we cannot always do that. This does have to be done so that we can take action on the part of others that really do good things for us. But I shall refrain from talking about these things myself. I shall just say that it is important to us to help one another in the same way: we may assist our neighbors, but I do not want to talk of the way in which we should aid each other by our own actions. In my next chapter you will be joined by some of the friends I have introduced. And I hope that these two people will share in this important conversation with you. In case that you did not see them at the chapter one meeting, please find the link here at the end of this chapter. (l 97) “These two friends will be able to join us, because I believe that they will share their views more. (l 98) Because I am afraid that when an older man (“P.S. ――――――― ‏――――